Get it together

Rev up a room with bright accessories

May 28, 2004|By Jodie Jacobs, Special to the Tribune

North Shore mom Pam Hultgren was ready for a change. She and husband, John, wanted a more "grown-up" family room, now that sons, Eric, 30, and Chris, 26, were out of the house. But even after she replaced the furniture with new, more sophisticated pieces, the room still needed something.

"The room was `vanilla,'" Hultgren said. "I bought new furniture, but it was not working. I watch enough home-improvement shows to realize I needed to change things, but I didn't know what to do next."

Feeling stuck, Hultgren enlisted the help of an interior designer, Pamela Litz-Blevons, of Susan Fredman & Associates in Northbrook. Blevons used accessories--some new and some of which Hultgren already owned--and grouped them about the room. The result: Hultgren's family room was transformed from plain vanilla to a striking, welcoming space.

When it comes to adding personality to a room, the art of accessorizing--or placing and arranging objects to boost visual interest--is often an overlooked but necessary step to give a space a finished look.

"The furniture are the bones of the room. The accessories are the icing on the cake," Blevons explained. "They add interest and complete the look. The details pull it all together. That is why the details are so important."

After some basic changes were made to the Hultgren's family room--repainting the walls with a light camel for warmth, regrouping furniture for better usage and switching dated pastel window treatments for wood-toned shades, Hultgren was directed to leave the house for a couple of hours. Then Blevons and her crew went to work accessorizing.

The warm reds and oranges of a painting over the fireplace inspired the persimmon throw pillows for the sofa and a huge red-glazed urn that Blevons bought to hold a large plant. Two exotic-looking baskets and a large round platter were placed between the urn and fireplace. A pair of mismatched candlesticks framed the fireplace's other side. "You don't always want matchy-matchy," Blevens explained. "By placing the shorter item on the inside of a grouping, you are bringing the eye in to what is important."

Three Chinese wood shutters were chosen to complement the wood tones in the room. Blevons also added a homey touch by placing family photos she found scattered throughout the house on the cabinet's desktop.

"They were spread around as `onesies.' A collection should be grouped," Blevons said.

When Hultgren stepped back into her newly redecorated family room, candles were lit, the fireplace was blazing and soft music was playing. "I felt like I was in a TV segment of (TLC home-improvement show) `While You Were Out,'" Hultgren said. "It was surprising how much homier the space was....They personalized the space more than I was able to do. That surprised me because this is my house, my space."

Hultgren sought one-on-one expert advice to bring the finishing touches to her room. Another route is to do it yourself. Here are accessorizing tips from designers and home furnishings experts:

- To refresh an entire room, first take everything out then put a few things back, starting with the furniture. "The furniture is the foundation that is the function of the room," said Paul Zurowski, co-owner of Sawbridge Studios, a Chicago furniture store specializing in craftsman-made American pieces. Re-examine traffic patterns before rearranging pieces, then build two, three or four clusters of accessories, he said.

"Group things together but not the way they were. This time, maybe a group might be a lamp, a vase with flowers and a few books or it might be pottery or baskets. The items should somehow be related but they do not have to be matching," Zurowski said.

Resist the urge to put everything back in the room, Zurowski adds. "After a while people don't even notice that there is too much stuff out," he said. "It's OK that some things go in a closet."

- Cluster objects. Form a composition by choosing a key item and building around it. "The item is your point of departure. Layer from there. But it is also important not to overpower with a lot of stuff," advised Dawn Juelfs, co-owner of Sawbridge Studios.

Don't be afraid to do a grouping on the floor, adds Lake Forest interior designer Carol Haran, a room makeover specialist. Different shape vases are good, so are boxes or baskets.

- Think about composition when grouping items. Things look better in odd numbers and at varying heights, says Haran. For instance, candles on a mantle look good in different shapes and sizes.

Photos should be grouped but they look better if you're not mixing black and white with color, she added. Tie photos together with frames that are similar in tone or material, such as all antique or contemporary, all silver or glass.

- Try to echo an item not just in a grouping but elsewhere in a room by repeating the texture or color. For example, Blevons repeated the wood tones of Hultgren's window shades with the baskets and Chinese shutters.